Ariane Watters
Ariane Victoria Watters (née Lees) was the Prime Minister of the Marit Islands from January 27, 2081 to January 1, 2082, again from 2088 to 2091 and finally from 2094 to 2096. Watters additionally led the National State Party for 15 years, 6 months and 21 days, January 27 2081 to August 22, 2096. She was the only Prime Minister to serve three nonconsecutive terms and the first female to have held office. Watters was describe as the "Margaret Thatcher of the Marit Islands" for her strong leadership and uncompromising politics. Early Life Ariane Watters was born to Ben and Julia Lees, a successful engineer and author respectively. Ben Lees acquired a teaching job at Townsend University: Shouwenburg Campus, which paid for Ariane Watters' schooling, where she majored in public relations and minored in political studies. Julia Lees was a successful author, publishing a few dozen books. After graduation Watters worked in the political office of Dutch politician, Hon. Kester Jordaan (NSP). In the office she met her future husband, Rod Watters. The couple married one and a half years later. They had three children: Clinton, Monica and Elia. Political Career Representative Ariane Watters was very successful and popular at her time working in Hon. Jordaan's office. He encouraged her to apply for a position in the party itself for public relations. Watters didn't get the job, but was referred to another position in speech writing. There, her colleagues noticed Watters' zeal and passion for conservative politics. After, Jordaan's retirement of 30 years, Watters was encouraged to run for office. She accepted and Jordaan personally endorsed Watters. Ariane Watters was elected as a member of the House of Representatives for Townsend's 27th District. As a representative, Watters was ambitious. Always proactive in party and committee meetings, she was popular among her colleagues. Most of all, Ariane Watters was loud and authoritative in her opposition against President Gersum de Kuiper. She was selected to be the deputy of Prime Minister Matthew Nelson Hewitt when he was elected into office. 'Deputy Prime Minister' Ariane Watters was selected to serve as Prime Minister Matthew Nelson Hewitt's deputy, where they developed a strong professional relationship as well as friendship. Watters was known as counterbalancing Nelson Hewitt's center policies with conservative ones. She was seen as the speaker for the conservative faction. Despite their political ideologies, Nelson Hewitt and Watters were able to work very well together. The public adored the two NSP leaders. Unfortunately, the friendship was torn by the demanding conservative faction of the party who, during Nelson Hewitt's last term, completely took control of the budgetary issues in the House of Representatives. This angered Nelson Hewitt who fought back. The conservative led NSP pushed for Watters to call a leadership election. She reluctantly called an election against Matthew Nelson Hewitt. Watters won becoming the second and first female Prime Minister of the Marit Islands. 'Prime Minister (2081-2082)' Despite advice from the cabinet to call for early elecctions, Watters wished to carry-out the rest of the legislative term. For the last eight months her governing party largely remained inactive and unresponsive to any legislation action. This resulted in the loss of the 2081 election, in which, Opposition Leader Thomas Nixon, leader of the Labor and Worker's Party won a majority. 'Opposition Leader (2082-2085)' The loss came as a blow to Watters and her party. Luckily her popularity outweighed the loss in the election and continued her leadership in the NSP. The new Prime Minister Nixon quickly became an enemy towards Watters. His open socialist policies angered Watters in comparison with her conservative policies. The relationship between the two party leaders seemed extremely partisan, bitter and harsh. Few policies did Watters agree with Nixon. Of which, she personally called Prime Minister Nixon to congratulate his efforts in expanding privacy rights for business. 'Opposition Leader (2085-2088)' Prime Minister Nixon's ambitious agenda and swift action led the LWP to win plurality in the election of 2085 with the support of the Social Democratic Party. Watters stated after the election, "NSP will be stronger than ever." Some say that the election loss angered her so, that it was the motivation to destroy the Labor and Worker's Party in the next three years - which she would successfully accomplish. In April of the first year of the legislative term, Ariane Watters announced to the public that she had been struck with poor health issues. Watters agreed that if it affected her performance as Opposition Leader she would respectively step down from her position. Several members of the NSP called for elections, concerned that their leader would be ineffective additionally dealing with health issues. In the party election, Watters won by a slight majority: 33 to 29 members. During Nixon's second term, he exercised poor financial policies. Watters made light of the increasing national debt and decreased economic performance. The Labor and Worker's Party took a drastic fall in approval ratings. The next election the LWP lost and Thomas Nixon resigned, Deputy Prime Minister Minik Tobiasen was elected to lead the party. 'Prime Minister (2088-2091)' In the start of the 2088 legislative term the NSP was made popular again by the leadership of Ariane Watters. However, they were only able to form a government with the support of the emerging Democratic Alliance. This was the first time a Prime Minister served a nonconsecutive term. Unfortunately, crisis for Watters and her new government struck quickly. Protests soon began to form at the Parliament House from various racial group who claimed inequality. Among them were the Marit Island Maori (who has had a long history of claiming unequal treatment), the Arab-Marit Islanders, the African-Marit Islanders and the Chinese-Marit Islanders. Watters called for a "national coalition to defeat racial inequality". Watters' Cabinet and several other MPs had to be evacuated for security reasons. Early in the term, the Prime Minister focused greatly on budgetary issues requesting the deadline for the approval of the federal budget be set back one week. Compared to Matthew Nelson Hewitt, Watters' fiscal policies were less controversial in the NSP. The party took a major conservative turn under Watters' leadership. The new federal budget was a success and passed easily in the House of Representatives. The economy improved as well as Watters' approval rating. Soon after Watters announced the "brainchild" of her and Deputy Prime Minister Cantu: a bill that would control and censor violence and suggestive themes in video games, cinema and television. The bill was highly unpopular. Several free speech groups protested the bill. It died while in debate in the House of Representatives. In the year of 2090, the Marit Island became involved in what would be their first war. Several militants in Iraq attacked the Marit Island Embassy in Baghdad. Additionally, government intelligence had reason to believe that Islamic terror groups were active within the Marit Islands. Watters announced that the attack was an act of war and requested that Parliament would declare war. Parliament approved and the country went to war against Iraq. This was unpopular with the public. 'Opposition Leader (2091-2094)' Perry Solomon became the 4th Prime Minister of the Marit Islands after leading the SDP to victory in the 2090 elections. He was the first African-Marit Islander Prime Minister. Watters remained largely popular with the NSP and continued her leadership. Watters and Solomon are considered the political foes of all time. Both related very well with the public, could command the respect of their parties, and brought both their parties to the height of their popularity respectively. However, much of Solomon's time in office was accompanied by scandal and disorganization. Additionally, Solomon never ended the war in Afghanistan as promised, which led the SDP approval rating to sink. Watters was clever and quick in her attacks against Solomon and the SDP. The next election came quick and victorious. 'Prime Minister (2094-2096)' Watters and the NSP won the 2093 elections and became the Prime Minister for the third time. The only Prime Minister to do so. Three months into the legislative term, Prime Minister Watters ended the war in Afghanistan in 2094. The act that was unpopular in her second term as PM, was used to her advantage. The government enacted several policies to help the inequality of race, focusing on the Maori population. This was seen as a step forward in race relations in the country. The Prime Minister also took a turn in her agenda and focused on the environment. Numerous environmental protection reserves were established, with a National Environmental Protection Commission (NEPC) to oversea progress. Ariane Watters was at the height of her popularity when she painfully decided to resign from her office. This came as a shock to the nation. No politician had ever or would ever resign voluntarily in MI history. In an official statement to the public, Watters stated she had decided to resign due to personal issues. It was later reported from a leak in her cabinet, that Watters had resigned from her poor health that returned. Charles Cantu was chosen to finish the legislative term. Legacy Watters faced times in her career where unpopularity seemed like it would be the end of her career, but each time in opposition she was able to fight her way back to the top. Watters held to her morals and ethics and lead the NSP through a multitude of trials, which is why she is considered one of the most popular prime ministers and the most popular NSP and female prime minister. Category:Marit Islands